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VISION Powerful marketing is not about products. 1

Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

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Public relations and branding for start-ups. Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs, from Skycastle Media.

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Page 1: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

VISION

Powerful marketing is not about products.

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Page 2: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

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Powerful marketing starts with a story that incites, inspires, ignites, emotion.

Emotion is at the core of motivation, the precursor to all action.

Story…design, style are the pathways to emotion. A meaningful brand

extends beyond your product or service to inspire a vision of what the

world can be.

INSPIRE A VISION OF WHAT THE WORLD CAN BE

Page 3: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

DEATH TO ZOMBIE BRANDS

Embrace your differences.

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Page 4: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

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Only six ideas in a thousand secure venture funding. Six in a million make it

to IPO. Boldness is required. Do not be put in your place. Do not play

small, just to play it safe. Speak out. Question the status quo. Shine. En-

courage your team to stretch—vigorously. Push. Push harder. When

creative genius is sequestered in the shadows, it festers into something

destructive. That’s how zombies are bred.

STAND OUT OR FADE OUT

Page 5: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

RISE ABOVE THE NOISE

Stand for something.

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Page 6: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

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Don’t squander them. Make meaning, not noise. What makes you

different? Where do you lead? What do you stand for? What makes your

molecules flash and glow? What makes your blood flow fast in your veins?

What makes you catch your breath and come alive? Share that.

LIFE AND ATTENTION SPANS ARE SHORT

Page 7: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

MAKE RELATIONSHIPS

Don’t just make sales.

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Page 8: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

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Don’t try to be all things to all people. Serve from your core strengths.

Don’t chase the single sale. You can’t go right and left at once. Decide.

To decide at its root is a kind of death. Hard. Listen to the fire in your belly.

You’ll know your decisions are sound when you use them to crystalize your

direction. Decisions ignite action. They sharpen vision. Stay true to your real

customers. Stay true to yourself. In this way you’ll give the world the best

you have to give.

NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO LOVE YOU

Page 9: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

DREAM

Recurring dreams reoccur for a reason.

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Page 10: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

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Notice what you notice. Daydream. Pay attention. Reccurring dreams

reoccur for a reason. Imaginations are meant to run loose. Be suspicious of

the word can’t. Ask what if? And why the f*ck not? Assumptions by nature

are used and stale. Surround yourself with people of strength and good

will. Know the difference between constructive and unconstructive

critique. One is an energy breeder and one is an energy feeder. One

leads to malaise and one leads to clarity.

HONOR YOUR RECCURING DREAMS

Page 11: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

EMBRACE DIVERSITY

Innovation emerges between chaos and complexity.

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Page 12: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

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Learn to navigate at the edge of chaos. If there is too much conformity,

there’s no place for creativity. If there is too much divergence, ideas

can’t take shape and nothing will get done. The fertile edge between

order and chaos is where innovation takes root. Strong teams are like

Velcro, comprised of complementary opposites. Make space for diverse

ideas. Monocultures are for corn, antithetical to originality.

MONOCULTURES ARE FOR CORN

Page 13: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

PRAISE

Create conditions for flow.

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Page 14: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

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Nature, including human nature, flows along the path of least resistance.

Minimize obstacles and bureaucracies. Create systems that support

positive flow. Tell your team what you want and let them figure out how to

get there. Mentor. Don’t hover unless you want to breed zombies. Zombie

workers produce zombie brands. Honest praise fuels energy. Strive to meet

the 80/20 rule. Praise outweighs criticisms 8 to 2. You don't water a tree

with poison and expect it to grow.

Create Conditions for Energy to Flow

Page 15: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

STORIES MATTER

Create an experience.

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Page 16: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

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All great brands have a story. All great stories create an emotional

experience. They touch us where we live and breathe. Compelling stories

demand a high-stakes plot. There is a problem to be solved. There are vast

challenges to overcome. Success brings ultimate rewards. We live the

tales we tell ourselves. Perspectives are countless. In business—in life—find

your position of unshakable strength and interpret your story from there.

WE LIVE OUR STORIES

Page 17: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

INSPIRE

Breathe Life into Your Brand

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Page 18: Brand Strategy for Start-ups: Lessons in innovation learned from great CEOs

Skycastle Media

Breathe Life into Your Brand

Public Relations and Branding for Start-ups

Tracy Oliver

http:/www.skycastlemedia.com

[email protected]

1.888.776.3893

© 2012